It's Us Against Them
by Megiido
Summary: It's a world run by crime, where humans and animatronics are attempting to survive. Each group steals from each other to endure the harsh world, and they occasionally cross paths, leaving both new alliances and bitter rivalries. But when danger strikes, they might just have to unite to defeat a common enemy. All while trying not to kill each other. Image: Johnathan Gales.
1. Chapter 1

The sun rises beautifully over the city. It passes the horizon, washing the buildings with rays of soft orange light. The forest near the city springs to life, birds chirping, welcoming the arrival of a new day. Leaves rustle, a gentle wind blows. The city itself is quiet, nothing but a few gusts of wind blowing through the streets.

It is a beautiful, serene day.

Yeah, right.

Gunshots suddenly break the silence. Yelling echoes off the buildings, and a figure runs from behind a skyscraper, two other figures right on its tail. It tears down the street as if the demons of hell were the ones chasing it.

One of the pursuers skids to a halt. It waves a gun above its head, screaming. "Get outta here, you Hacker scum!"

Its partner stops as well. "If you decide to come back uninvited again, I'm going to make sure you don't leave alive!" It yells.

The Hacker pays no attention, disappearing around a corner. The two others watch them leave.

"Christ, Aurora, are we just gonna let them go?" The first one asks, jumping from foot to foot. He rubs the back of his head, slightly shifting the cowboy hat on his head. His white and gray fur is ruffled by the breeze. "I mean, we don't know why they came here, and we don't know if they took anything." He stops talking, green eyes widening. "What if they took something and they're gonna give it to the Justifiers? What if they show it to everyone? What if-"

The other figure holds up a paw. "Hush, Marble. They're not going to show anything to the Justifiers. Nobody, not even the Hackers, is going to confide in them for anything."

Marble blinks. "Oh. Yeah. I knew that." The fox straightens up, spinning a crimson revolver around his finger. "So...do we go now?"

Aurora sighs, flicking her black, white-tipped tail back and forth. She drops the arrow she was about to shoot back into the quiver slung across her back. The coyote absentmindedly brushes a black paw along the length of the bow, white-tipped ears straight and alert. "But if they did take something, what was it? We don't have anything of importance to them."

The marbled fox frowns, stuffing the gun into the pocket of his brown hoodie. "Maybe it was just because they hate us. If I were a Hacker, and thank the circuits I'm not, I would do the same thing. Just to screw around with my enemies."

A small smile spreads across Aurora's white muzzle. "You're probably right. Now, let's get out of here and tell the others that it was just a false alarm."

Marble grins mischievously. He dusts off his brown camo pants, planting his steel toed boots on the ground. "Race you?"

Aurora grins back. "It's on."

They two canines take off, going so fast that they look like a black and white blur to anyone watching. They leave the gray confines of the city, heading towards the giant forest right next to it. They speed into it, dodging trees and scaring a few small animals back into their homes.

The two animatronics reach the middle of the forest. A hanging ladder falls from the top of a tree, and Aurora reaches for it. She scampers up the ladder, Marble close behind. The coyote climbs to the top of the ladder, and she plants her feet on the wood floor of the tree dwelling.

"Ha!" she says triumphantly, adjusting her blue-green bowtie. "You'll never beat me!"

Marble climbs up the ladder, panting. He plunks his head on the floor. "Oh no!" he yells in mock defeat. "I have been bested once more!"

Aurora smiles, lifting Marble up. "Come on. I don't think Mint's going to appreciate you lying on the floor like a rug."

"Then leave me here."

Aurora rolls her mismatched eyes. "Fine." She drops the fox back down on the floor with a thunk.

Marble scrambles to his feet. "No, I was just kidding!" He begins to walk next to the black and gray coyote.

The two leave the room they came in, which had no decoration in it save for a small window on the right wall. They exit, and are met with a hanging bridge made out of wood and ropes. The bridge was connected to another treehouse room, which was in turn connected to another bridge. All of the treehouses were connected to each other, forming a large circle. In the middle of the circle is a giant mansion made out of wood, with multiple bridges coming out from it. Smaller trees hid the whole base from prying eyes below. Lush green foliage creeps up the sides of the houses, making the place camouflaged even from above.

Aurora and Marble cross the bridge leading to the large wooden mansion. It looms over them, the polished wood gleaming in the morning sun.

They approach the double doors, and Aurora gently pushes one of them open. The room they enter is large and spacious, with a stained glass skylight making up the entire roof. The room itself is sparsely decorated, with a few armchairs here and there. A fireplace takes up most of the right wall, and the other walls have different paintings depicting the forest.

In the middle of the room are three other people. One of them, a girl, notices the two animatronics walk in. She turns around to face them, flipping her braided, strawberry blond hair over her shoulder.

"Hey guys!" She calls out, walking over to meet the two. She looks them both up and down. "Where's the Hacker?"

Marble waves. "Hey, Calypso. About that. All they wanted to do was cause some trouble, and they didn't get away with anything. Plus, it would've been a waste of time if we tailed the guy across the entire city only to find out he was a troll."

Calypso frowns, crossing her arms over her orange shirt. She fiddles with the sleeve of her black denim jacket. "Are you positive that they didn't have anything of value?"

The gray and white fox nods. "One hundred percent positive."

Aurora comes up behind Marble. "And speaking of the Hacker, where's Chica so I can tell her?"

Calypso shrugs. "I honestly don't know, but you can give your report to Grace." She points over her shoulder, where a dark gray wolf and a brown rabbit were currently yelling at each other, making wild gestures in the air with their hands. "As usual, she's arguing with Ganache." The girl grins. "They're having a heated discussion on the values of potatoes."

Aurora sighs, trying not to laugh at their second-in-command talking about vegetables. "Of all things, why potatoes?" She begins to walk towards the two animatronics. Marble and Calypso follow.

The brown rabbit was in the middle of making a statement. "-but all that's going to do is take up space!" He yells.

The dark gray wolf, Grace, rolls her light blue eyes. "And can you suggest a better vegetable to grow up here?"

Ganache huffs, bright green eyes narrowing. "Why are you so intent on bringing potatoes up here, anyways? It's not like they're the best vegetable, and we already have a lot of other plants growing in the garden." He spreads his arms, indicating the entire base. "Plus, as I said before, where are we going to put them?"

Grace bares her teeth. "I'm bringing them up here because we have multiple human children with us. Or did you forget?"

"I didn't forget about Esmeralda or the others! But they're not going to spend the rest of their lives eating potatoes."

"I never said that!"

"I sure sounded like you meant it."

Grace throws her paws up. "Fine. I'm done arguing with you. But I'm putting potatoes in the sky garden, and you can't stop me." The wolf turns around, noticing the three other people for the first time.

"Oh, hello." Grace says, slightly flustered. "I'm sorry I couldn't get to you guys sooner. I was caught up in a completely unnecessary argument that would've been resolved earlier, if only a certain rabbit could've listened to me." She directed her last sentence at Ganache, who waited until the wolf wasn't looking at him and started to make faces behind her back.

Marble snickers, sticking his tongue out at the brown and white rabbit. Grace notices this and frowns at the fox, who sees the second-in-command staring at him. He immediately stops.

The dark gray wolf turns her attention back to Aurora. "So? How did it go?"

Aurora tells Grace about the Hacker and how they probably snuck into the base as a prank. Grace nods. "One of their buddies might have dared them, and they didn't want to be known as a coward." She swishes her tail, looking back at Ganache, who had stopped making faces and was straightening his green tie. "Come on, it's almost time for training."

Marble holds up his paws. "Wait. Training before eating? Who's crazy idea was this?"

"Chica's," Grace says. "And if you have the guts to say that to her face, I admire you."

Marble wiggles an eyebrow. "I may be brave, but not _that_ brave."

Ganache saunters up next to the fox, placing a paw on his shoulder. "But I remember that one time you said you were going to sneak into the Hacker's base and cut Foxy's head off."

Marble opens his mouth to protest when Calypso pipes up. "And when you said that you were going to fight Grace to the death for the position of second-in-command."

Grace looks at the white and gray fox, amusement dancing in her eyes. "Oh really?"

Marble got an agitated look on his face. "I never said any of that! Especially not the thing Burn said about fighting to the death!"

Calypso beams at the sound of her nickname. "I'm pretty sure I heard you."

Marble begins to try and explain why he never said anything. Everyone one else teases him, making comments. The four animatronics and one human walk out of the mansion into the light of the forest.

* * *

 _Run._

That was the only thing on her mind as she speeds through the abandoned city, trying to outrun the pair of Hunters.

She hears the animatronics stop, and one of them calls her scum. She grins to herself, wavy red hair flying away from her face as she continues to sprint.

 _If only they knew who they were dealing with._

She turns a corner. Not stopping, she whisks down the street, glancing at the street signs as she runs past them.

 _East Burke...Kero...Rancom...and here it is._

She skids to a halt in front of a worn down sign, the faded white letters reading 'Alders End'. She walks over to the sign and runs her hand down it. Finding a button, she presses it.

A circular section of the street under her begins to sink down. She stands on it, tapping her foot in impatience. As soon as the street above was past her head, another circular slab slides into the opening, covering her completely.

Lights flick on, lining the sides of the tunnel she was descending through. She drums her fingers on the glass of the tube she was in. Every single time she had gone down here, she had no idea how the glass had materialized around her.

The tube exits the tunnel, and it appears in a gigantic underground airplane hangar. The walls and ceiling are made out concrete, and multiple large lights are on the ceiling and walls.

That's where the resemblance to an airplane hangar ends.

Dozens of computers take up most of the right half of the entire base, thousands of wires crisscrossing on the floor and traveling up the walls. The other half has some of the weirdest inventions ever known to mankind. Most of them are either smoking or on the verge of exploding, and all of them emit some kind of odd noise. Three huge bookshelves are crammed in in the far left corner of the hangar, and multiple books are opened and scattered on the floor near them. In the very middle of the northern wall is a large metal door. It was open, revealing multiple beds and a kitchen.

The glass slides open, and the woman steps out. Her dark green eyes scan the base, and she spots a person running towards her. She recognizes them instantly.

"Oh my God, not now," she mutters, and looks up, forcing a smile. "Henry."

The man wrings his checkered bowtie, coming up to her. His brown eyes dart around the nagar nervously. He pushes his wire-rimmed glasses up his sweaty nose. "May. Um, you're in trouble. Actually, really big trouble. You know what, make that lots and lots of-"

May cuts him off. "I get it. I went out without telling anyone. And may I ask who is the one going crazy over my disappearance?"

"Um, it's mostly Aravis, but Savannah is really worried, you know how she gets…"

May's eyes widen. The annoyed look on her face leaves, and she storms past Henry, leaving him in her wake. He scampers behind her, almost tripping over his own feet.

She jogs over to the open door on the other side of the base. She walks into the room with the beds and kitchen in it.

"Savannah?" She calls out with concern. "Don't worry about me, I'm fine."

A golden blur flies from the kitchen, and it wraps around May with a crushing hug. "May Caster!" The tiger exclaims, brushing a paw on May's red hair. She pulls away, studying the human. "Where have you been?"

May coughs. "I had to do something important."

Savannah frowns. "Something so important it had to do with the Hunters?"

Behind them, Henry gasps. As usual, he is ignored.

May holds up a thumb drive. "But I got something off of them, and I should probably show it to Aravis. I don't know if it's important, but they didn't give me much time to check their databases. That was very rude of them."

Savannah begins to check May up and down. "Did they hurt you in any way? Because if they did…"

May gently squirms away from the tiger. "Nope. I was too fast for them."

There was a terrible smell. Savannah looks up, blue eyes widening. "Oh no, did Vesper forget to take the pie out of the oven?" She runs into the kitchen, and the burning smell intensifies.

May rushes in after her, followed by Henry. She looks tentatively inside, and winces at the scene inside.

A tall black animatronic snake with orange eyes stood by the oven with some kind of charred rock on his head. It took May a moment to realize it was a pie. The snake was trying and failing to take the pie off his head, but it seemed to be stuck. Next to the snake was a toucan animatronic, complete with the orange beak. He was kneeling near the oven, cleaning it out with a rag. Savannah herself was standing in front of the snake, giving him a lecture.

"What did I say about taking the pie out, Vesper?"

"Take it out carefully." The snake mutters, seizing the burnt pie again with one of his hands. "Don't leave it too long inside or it'll burn."

"And did you listen?"

"No…"

Savannah sighs, grabbing the pie and placing her other paw on the side of Vesper's face. She gently shakes the pastry, and when satisfied, rips it off in one go.

Vesper yelps, slithering away from Savannah. He rubs the side of his head, grimacing. "Could you have done that a bit softer?" He removes his hand to find bits of metal on it. "Great. Now I'm broken."

"You're not broken," Savannah says, setting the burnt pie on the stovetop. "And if I hadn't done that now, you would've had a pie stuck on your head forever." The tigress turns to May. "Aravis, Ms. Caster has something to show you."

The toucan looks up from the oven. He stands up and walks over to May, his black clawed feet clicking on the green and white tiled floor. "May, please tell me what you got from the Hunters is crucial, or a certain fox is going to be very mad at you."

May flips out the thumb drive, rubbing her finger along it. "I'm actually not quite sure, but hey, anything from the enemy is important, isn't it?" She hands it over to Aravis, who wastes no time and runs out of the kitchen. The toucan blows past Henry, almost knocking the small man over. Everyone else follows, quiet.

Aravis had crossed the giant hangar in record time, getting to the nearest computer. He plugs the thumb drive in, and everyone crowds around him.

The file pops up. Aravis narrows his gray eyes. "A password."

"Hey, that kind of stuff is a cinch," Vesper exclaims, and he reaches out to type something on the keyboard. The password screen disappears, and some more files appear. Aravis scrolls past the data, eyes scanning the file names.

"They names are all mostly acronyms, but we'll have time for those later. It's the ones with decipherable names I want a look at." He stops at a single document, hovering the cursor over it. "This is what I'm talking about."

May reads it out loud. "InsideTheShadows. Sounds important. But that sounds like an application, not a word document."

Aravis clicks on it, and a document with thousands of words comes up. The toucan browses the first few lines, and he stops in amazement. The others also read the lines, and they exchange looks of understanding with each other.

"Are you all thinking what I'm thinking?" Aravis murmurs.

Vesper gapes at the screen, a hand reaching up to grasp the silver pendant around his neck. "Holy circuits, the Fighters are going to pay a fortune for this."

* * *

 **A/N: The wait is over!**

 **Featuring:**

 **Aurora, by: CrossedTheBarrierForPizza**

 **Marble, by: WingsOfBronze**

 **Calypso Snow, by: Bunnie Queen Rulz**

 **Grace, by: AlexaMarrinDaughterOfPoseidon**

 **Ganache, by: me!**

 **May Caster, by: KalypsoKari87**

 **Henry, by: Grezzwizard**

 **Savannah and Vesper, by: xdarkx**

 **Aravis, by: FireMoon**

 **o0o**

 **Thank you all! And remember, don't worry if your OC didn't appear. I have LOTS OF THEM TO KEEP TRACK OF.**

 **Have a great day!**

 **PlatinumFire~**


	2. Chapter 2

"Pay a fortune for what?"

The girl smirks, dangling the thumb drive in front of the figure who spoke. "A little bit of information." The figure reaches out to grab the thumb drive, and the girls snatches it back. She spins it around her finger. "Now, I've gotta see the money first before I hand this over to you."

The animatronic growls softly, tilting his head so that the light filtering from above catches on his one light blue eye. His round, furry ears twitch. "You're a clever one, aren't you?"

The girls shrugs, tossing her curly red hair over her shoulder. "Hey, I'm just following protocol. If you don't like that, talk to Foxy."

Her escort grunts and spins around, heading towards the small door they had entered through. She skips after him, whistling as if she didn't have a care in the world.

The animatronic opens the door, and is met with blue sky, a strong breeze, and nothing below them for about three hundred feet. The girl peers over his yellow furred shoulder. Her green eyes swivel to the animatronic cheetah.

"Woah. That wasn't here when you brought me up."

"That's because we used the conveyor belt. And the elevator."

"Aren't we going to use them again?"

The cheetah sighs, the wind buffeting his black-spotted fur. His eye roves over the ground below them, and he sets his gaze on the other skyscraper across from them. "Guess what? It's your lucky day."

"We're using the elevator…?"

A grin splits the cheetah's face. "Even better. We're jumping."

The girl frowns. Then her eyes widen and she steps back, holding up her hands. "Wait. We didn't agree on this."

The cheetah suddenly runs up and grabs her arm. The girl yelps, and she is dragged towards the door, where the drop was waiting. The animatronic wraps an arm around her waist, and prepares to jump. He turns his head to the girl, still grinning.

"Hey, if we die, what's your name? I didn't quite get it."

The girl's eyes look ready to bug out of her head. "Die?! Wha-"

The cheetah shrugs amiably, looking at the ground. The wind whips across the skyscraper, making an eerie whooshing noise. "Eh, it's all right. And by the way, the name's Charlie." Not wasting time, he leaps from the tiny room.

The duo falls, the skyscraper next to them rushing past in a dark gray blur. Charlie whoops, the wind pushing his fur away from his face. The girl was not as excited.

"Ohhhhhhhh myyyyyyyy Godddddddd!" She yells, holding onto the animatronic cheetah for dear life.

Charlie laughs. "Are you going to tell me your name yet?" He yells to be heard over the keening gale.

"It's Alexa! Alexa Marrin!" She closes her eyes, feeling the wind whipping across her face. "How much longer is this gonna take?!"

"Not as long as I would like it to!" Charlie exclaims.

As soon as he says this, a thick leather cord appears out of nowhere. It whirls towards them, and Charlie grabs it. He wraps the cord around his hand, and they begin to swing in the direction of the other skyscraper.

Alexa decides to open her eyes at that time. Not a good idea. She sees the wall of the skyscraper rushing towards her. "Holy crap!"

Just before they were about to hit the building, a rectangular section of the gray concrete disappears. Charlie flies into the skyscraper and lets go of the cord. The two slide across the floor, and the portion of the wall closes up. They lie on the floor, completely out of breath. The room they landed in was actually a hallway. It had a dirty white linoleum floor with light gray walls. Several lights were on the ceiling, and most of them flickered every once in a while. They stared at the ceiling, and Alexa was the first one to speak.

"Why was that necessary?"

Charlie thinks for a second. "I don't think it's necessary. We do it because it's fun."

"This is your idea of _fun_?" Alexa leans against the wall, using it for support to get up. "I thought only the Hunters did this crazy swinging-on-vines thing."

"Well," the cheetah stands and stretches. "I guess you were wrong." He motions down the hallway. "Follow me."

"The more you know," Alexa mutters under her breath. She walks after the animatronic cheetah, still holding the thumb drive. Charlie reaches the end of the hallway to find a door. He pushes it open. Alexa half expects it to have another drop.

They step out onto a platform. Above them is another floor, and in front of them is a huge conveyor belt. There are giant, floor-to-ceiling windows behind them. The glow of the sun washes through them, illuminating the conveyor belt and the rest of the place across from them.

Alexa walks forward, placing her hands on the glass and steel barricade in front of her. She looks at the conveyor belt. "Nice place you've got here." She looks down and sees more floors beneath her. "How tall is this building?"

"We actually have different skyscrapers for different things. This one right here is the Industrial Building, so it's around 200 stories tall."

Alexa nods appreciatively. "And I thought you guys lived in holes or something like that."

Charlie snickers. "We're not barbaric, no matter what the Agents say. And speaking of the Agents, I'll like to show what you've got there to some other people."

"As long as I come back with payment, that's perfectly fine."

The animatronic nods and begins to walk, whistling as he did so. Alexa scurries after him, still trying to take in the entire skyscraper. They cross the shiny linoleum floor, heading towards another small door.

Alexa uses this time to inspect the rest of the building. The place used to be some sort of mega mall. Most of the stores were still intact, but some of them had been ransacked by the people that had lived here before. Chunks of random rubble littered the floor around the stores that had been scavenged.

Alexa turns her gaze to Charlie, who had stopped in front of the small door. She opens her mouth to ask him a question when a loud smash was suddenly heard from behind the door. She starts, quickly crouching down in a defensive position, fingers grazing her right boot.

Charlie's ears twitch bemusedly. "Don't worry, it's only them training," he says. He prepares to knock on the door when Alexa pops up next to him. This time, it was the cheetah's turn to flinch.

"Training? What kind of training is that? Are you guys using some sort of deadly weapon?" She stops, thinking. "I like deadly weapons."

The animatronic's single eye shines. "Nope. We only bring those out when absolutely necessary. And we might just have to do that."

"Why?"

"Because a certain Hacker won't stop talking," he replies in a singsongy voice. Alexa fumes, ready to snap back with her own retort, when Charlie opens the door.

All that could be seen was a blur of orange and blue. A smaller shape darts around it, lithely jabbing and lunging with a pair of objects in their hands. The orange and blue blur swings a long pole at the other shape, trying to hit it.

Behind the two were another pair of windows. Alexa watches as the colorful blur misses and whacks the glass with a mighty strike. Alexa steps back, expecting the window to shatter, but the glass remains intact.

Charlie raises a paw and waves it halfheartedly. "Guys. We've got company."

Neither of the two people listen, and continue to fight. This went on for another minute or so until the smaller of the two is forced into a corner. They are disarmed, and two knives go flying across the room.

But the fight keeps going. Not giving up, the cornered person uses their fists to block all the blows coming from the other person. The orange one insists, pressing onto the other person, until at last, all movement stops.

An orange fox with blue arms stands above his opponent, panting heavily. A long metal pole rests in his paws, one end pointing to a woman lying on the floor.

The fox grins, looking down at the woman. "I finally did it. I've finally defeated F-"

He was cut short. His eye flicks down to his leg, where a small knife was positioned right behind his knee. His grin disappears, and his ears droop. The pole falls with a clatter, and the fox turns away from the woman.

"Damnit!" He yells, rushing over to a corner of the room. He snatches a blue fedora off of the floor and puts it on his head. "I keep forgetting about that stupid knife of yours!"

The woman gets up, sheathing the knife. She collects the other two from their places on the floor and turns to the fox, ponytail swishing. "I've got to hand it to you, Terrence. That's the first time someone's disarmed me in quite a while."

The fox, Terrence, looks up. His tail slowly begins to wag, and his face brightens. He flicks the eyepatch on his other eye up, his grin flashing in the sunlight. Striking a pose, Terrence fist pumps.

"Yes!" He flips the eyepatch back down and saunters over to the woman, picking the pole off the floor. He spins it around for a bit, pretending to hit an invisible enemy, when he finally notices Charlie and Alexa.

"Oh, hi, Charlie. How's it going?"

Charlie shrugs, flicking an ear towards Alexa. "Y'know, I had some important information for you, but it's okay if I need to come back later."

The woman glances at them with amber eyes. She studies Alexa and notices the thumb drive she was holding. "I'm guessing it has something to do with that?"

Alexa nods, holding up the thumb drive. "Yes, Ms...um…"

The woman smiles slightly. "Just call me Faith." She walks over to Alexa. "And what's the information Charlie was saying something about?"

"Yeah, it's about the Agents. And I wa-

The girls was about to continue when there was a faint clicking noise at the window behind them. Faith spins around, eyes narrowing. Alexa and Charlie peer at the window, and Terrence slowly approaches it. He stands in front of it, nose almost touching the glass, and he looks sharply up.

"Nothing," the fox murmurs. He taps the window with the pole. "Probably a bird or something."

Faith motions for Terrence to come back. "We shouldn't risk it. Let's move." She brushes past Charlie and Alexa, going out the door. They follow, and Terrence casts one last glance at the window before dashing away.

* * *

Holy crap, that was close.

After waiting until the voices disappeared, she risks a peek over the building's edge. There were no Fighters yelling at her and throwing sharp objects, so that was good. Her ears swivel, listening for any suspicious noises. Nothing. She pulls a small object from her back. She palms the gadget she was holding and flips it sharply down. A long, thin wire snakes out of it and attaches itself to the ledge under the window.

Launching herself from the roof with graceful stealth, she grabs the wire and rappels down until she is under the window. She looks through the glass, already knowing what she's going to see.

The room is empty.

Sighing, the cat looks at her right wrist. A small screen, attached to a band going around her arm, displays the time.

 _Already an hour late._

Not wasting any time, she suddenly leaps to the side. Detaching the wire, she flicks it towards the other building. The wire attaches and she begins to climb as soon as she hits the wall.

She reaches the top, sprinting. Coming to the end of the roof, she jumps off, throws the wire again, and makes it to the other roof.

The cat roof-jumps across the city. The clouds were gray, a sharp contrast to the bright sun that had appeared earlier in the day. The wind was getting stronger.

 _It's going to rain._

Her bright green eyes narrow, briefly flickering. _Cute stunt the Hackers tried to play on us. Too bad it's not going to work._

She spots another large white building with many windows.. Picking up the speed, she back-flips onto the roof of the facility. She retracts the wire and walks briskly to the middle.

There was a large pillar emerging from the roof. She reaches across her back, drawing a sword. Holding it in front of her, she takes a deep breath. She suddenly launches into a flurry of strikes and slashes, cutting the stone pillar in front of her.

There was a loud beep. She immediately stops and sheathes her sword. The pillar was covered with different slashes of various size and depth. It begins to sink into the building at a rapid rate.

She jumps down after it. The wind rushing past her face, she makes a quiet landing on top of the pillar. Crouching, she hangs on as it continues to descend.

The pillar suddenly vanishes. There was nothing but empty air under her, and yet the cat continues to fall calmly.

A light appears, and she touches down on the floor of the research facility. Still crouching, she looks up.

She is met with a pair of black jeans. A dark gray paw comes into her vision. She grabs it and hauls herself up, thanking the person who had helped her. She straightens, adjusting the sling on her back. The wolf in front of her speaks up.

"So? Was the tip from the Hunters really worth it?"

The calico cat nods, brushing off some dusty remains off of her arms. "Yep. Turns out he sent out a messenger to give the Fighters the information they stole from the Hunters. And they're paying a pretty penny for that info as well."

The dark gray wolf frowns. His light blue eyes flick to the side, as they do when he's thinking. "And do you have any idea what kind of file they took from the Hunters?"

"I'm guessing it's some sort of map. Most likely of our place. But the thing is," she begins to walk, and the wolf catches up next to her. "I don't see why the Hackers would do something like this. Maybe as a practical joke or something. And if it is, then we're not taking the bait."

The wolf shrugs. "I see it as a joke, Cali. I mean, this has happened before. Remember the shower thing?"

Cali snickers. "Okay, I have to admit they really outdid themselves on that."

The wolf grins back. "Now, all you gotta do is tell Niall about this and we're golden."

Cali playfully shoves the wolf. "Was that a pun, Spark?"

He shrugs again, amusement dancing in his eyes. "Maybe. Maybe not."

The two make their way across the main lobby of the facility, feet padding on the gray carpeted floor. They pass a shiny black table with chairs of the same color around it. On the table was half a cup of coffee, still warm. There was a large screen planted on the wall across from the table. It was on, the feed switching from different places in the building to places in the city outside. It had begun to rain steadily.

Spark looks at the windows surrounding the facility. The storm was pounding on them relentlessly. "You're lucky you came back early, Cali. You would've gotten soaked."

"And that also would've been an equivalent to the unfortunate shower incident. Nobody was dry for a whole week." Her ears straighten. "I heard that Bonnie himself was in the whole thing, and he and Foxy apparently had a few good laughs about it."

Spark raises his eyebrows. "Where did you get this piece of gossip from?"

"Niall himself. But he says it's probably not true and that Bonnie only said it to piss everyone else off."

Spark sniggers. He and Cali walk through a pair of scanning panels. They glow with a soft green light and let out a soft beep.

The two animatronics enter another room, this one being the food court. A vending machine sits in a corner, someone standing on front of it. The tables were all empty except for one, which had a lone German Shepherd sitting at it. The dark brown and ginger dog was humming quietly, drawing on the surface of the table with a tiny paintbrush.

Spark and Cali walk over to the dog. They sit in front of him and look at the thing he was drawing on the table. Or more accurately, painting.

Cali's bright green eyes widen. "Oh, that's really nice, Corey!" she exclaims.

The dog looks up from his painting and smiles, tail wagging. He adjusts the pink beret on his head and points down at his art. "Hru really hrike it?" he asks, words muffled by the pink bandanna over his mouth.

The calico cat nods. "Yes, I do like it. In fact, I think it's very beautiful. What about you, Spark?" she queries the wolf.

"That's some of the coolest art I've seen, bud. And I've seen some cool art," Spark says. He looks up at the person still standing in front of the vending machine. "Hey Blake! Come see this awesome thing Corey drew in pink!" he yells.

The person spins around, almost falling over. "Yeah, I'm coming! I just want to make this thing work!" He turns back around and promptly delivers a kick to the red vending machine. "That's the fourth time this week the thing's taken my money. And given nothing in return."

Cali speaks up. " You haven't told Niall about this?"

Blake shakes his head vigorously. "He says he's fixed it, but it keeps acting up." He kicks the machine again. It sort of wobbles, on the verge of toppling when it straightens back again.

Blake groans, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his red hoodie. "Look at it. Look at its smug face."

Spark raises a paw. "But machines don't have faces."

"If this one did, it would have the biggest shit eating grin on the face of planet Earth."

Corey says something about watching his language.

"I'm sorry, but this thing has gotten me really fed up." Blake brings his foot back again to kick the machine when a voice interrupts him.

"Stop harming the vending machine, Blake. It's poor and defenseless and probably very sad that you're hurting it."

A silver gray rabbit strolls into the room, wearing a black leather vest over a white dress shirt. He stops next to Blake and looks at the vending machine with his dark green eyes.

"Why is this bothering you?"

The kid places a hand on the machine and rocks it back and forth. "It's stolen my money but you said you've fixed it. But guess what, it's not fixed."

Niall walks around to the back. He crouches down on the black speckled linoleum floor, stays there for a second, and stands back up.

"Seems that this machine's defective. And since I don't want you losing your money, here you go." The rabbit holds out a paw with a bunch of dollar bills in it.

Blake's hazel eyes light up. "Geez, thanks! You didn't have to do that."

"Don't worry, kid. There's plenty of it to go around. Now," Niall walks over to the table and sits down next to Corey. Blake sits across from him, shoving the bills in his pockets. "Let's see Corey's painting."

The German Shepherd moves his arm, and a painting is revealed. It was an all pink depiction of the city, rain clouds and all.

Niall looks impressed. He traces the lines of the miniature pink city with a finger. "Wow. And how long did this take you?"

"A fhrew hours."

"For this much detail? That's pretty amazing." Niall then glances up at Cali. "Speaking of the city, how did the trip to the Fighters go?"

Cali begins her retelling of her trip. "And I'm pretty sure it's all a practical joke, like Spark said," she ended, staring at her paws. She looks at Niall with a gleam in her eyes. "I'm betting it's something else having to do with the shower system."

Niall rolls his eyes. "That was fun."

Spark then leans forward, resting his chin on his hands. "About the showers. You said that Bonnie told you about them. But how did you get him to tell you?"

The silver gray rabbit leans back, closing his eyes. "I have my ways."

Cali grins, getting what Spark was trying to pull. "What kind of ways, hmmm? You've spent a lot of time with him, haven't you?"

Blake snickers. He and Spark exchange looks.

Niall finally speaks up, opening one eye. 'Fine, I used my wonderful charms on him."

Spark and Blake whistle at the same time, and Cali begins to laugh. Corey joins in, howling raucously. They continue to laugh until Niall finally calms them down.

"I'll never tell you."

They look at him slyly.

"Okay. Fine. But first, we've got to take care of these Hackers. It wasn't a very nice thing they did to us with the showers, wasn't it?"

Everyone nods.

"So I've got a thing. And that thing's called payback." The rabbit's smile gets wider, and he leans towards the others, whispering.

The first one to pull back was Spark. There was a mischievous twinkle in his eye. "Oh, that'll get them back so good."

Blake rubs his hands together in a gesture of mock villainy. "This is gonna be fun."

"And the best part about it? Both the Hackers and the Justifiers won't know what hit them. _Literally._ "

* * *

 **Featuring:**

 **Alexa Marrin, by: AlexaMarrinDaughterOfPoseidon**

 **Charlie, by: Theoneandonlyme**

 **Terrence, by: SirDerpTheDerp**

 **Faith, by: Ridley Jkgsyn**

 **Cali, by:** **KalypsoKari87**

 **Spark, by: FoxyGuy87**

 **Corey, by: WingsOfBronze**

 **Blake, by: xdarkx**

 **Niall, by: Ridlius**

 **o0o**

 **Thank you all!**

 **And no, I'm not dead. I was just plagued by the bane of every writer's existence: writer's block.**

 **(And school. Don't forget school.)**

 **Anyways, I'm back! And I've already started Chapter 3, hopefully that will take me less time to finish than this chapter :P**

 **Hope you have a great day!**

 **PlatinumFire, out~**


	3. Chapter 3

The Agents were starting to get annoying. More annoying than usual, at least.

The same one had been lurking around their hotel for the past half hour. Coming close, looking around with furtive movements at the rain-soaked city behind them. Tiptoeing forward with mock stealth. Pressing their face against the window. Tapping on the glass and then running away when he came close.

Guard duty sucks.

They come back again. His ears twitch, noticing them behind him but deciding not to pay any attention. Maybe then he'll get a chance to see why they were being so aggravating.

They begin the same incessant tapping on the glass. He suppresses an urge to run over and bash their skull in. Not that he usually did that, but this guy was really starting to wear his patience thin. And he had a lot of patience.

The tapping turns to knocking. Then banging. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. He was not going to let some stupid Agent see him snap. His eyes suddenly open, and he smiles, getting an idea.

He walks over to a hotel reception desk, maneuvering around the various chairs and tables that occupied the lobby. Setting the large AK-47 he was holding down onto the smooth marbled surface, he walks behind the desk. He turns around and stares at the Agent, who had taken some sort of heavy object and was repeatedly slamming the window with it.

The person notices him staring. Dropping the object, they wave. He waves back. They then make a motion to let them into the hotel. He shakes him head, mouthing some words.

 _No can do, buddy._

The Agent apparently understands him. They make the motion again, this time more feverently. He repeats his words.

They pick the object up from the floor and start to hit the window with it again. The bangs echo loudly throughout the empty lobby. He smirks and takes out a rag, using to polish the gun in front of him. The bangs get faster, louder. This goes on for a good five minutes until the noise finally stops. Silence followed that, and he was about to get up and check on the Agent when a horrible squeaking noise begins.

The bastard was writing on the window with a large black marker. And apparently in a hurry, the writing was as equally terrible as the squeaking.

He stands up, blue eyes flashing. Grabbing the AK-47, he storms towards the infuriating Agent, who had spotted him and was writing even faster.

Just as he reached the window, the person dashes away into the stormy city, leaving behind the marker they were using to write on the glass. He was slightly relieved. He wasn't really in the mood to go chasing Agents, especially when it was raining.

He squints, tilting his white furred head. The rain had caused the marker to run, creating large black smears running down the pristine glass. This wasn't much of a problem (the windows were self cleaning), but the smears had gotten all over the place, obscuring most of the message the Agent had written.

He could make out most of the words if he squinted hard enough. The others, however, he had to use his imagination.

H͉͇̩͎̝͕̠̲̫͓̖̬̣a̲̠̮̩̬͉̬̥̗̞̪͇̮̮̙̜͖̘c͔̖͖͉̥͉̖̤̝̲͚̠̙̻̗͍ͅk̞̭̙̼̻͈̘̩͓̩e̩̜̭̱͓͎̹̹̪͓͖̳̘͍̰͕r͓̩͇̦̱̤͕̦͈͉͔̦̼̺̖̪̳̱ͅs͖̭̺̘͖̹͖͎ ̥̫̞̼̲ͅg̠̜͇͎̫̙͉͍̞̫̟͈̰̮͕̥͙͍̬o̝͕͇̳̫̖̲̣̝̯̝̻̠̩͓͖n̮̺̙̱n͎̲̞̰̰͙̗̣̼̲͉͈a̦̖͔̜̳̪̟̘̞̝̥ ̮͖͔̫͉̟͍̤͔̻ḳ͍̣̳̩̪̖̙̺i͇̥̜̻̼̜̤͚̗c͙͇̲̫ḵ̬͍͍̯͖̼͕͙͔̞͉̖͇̜̝̮ ̯̠̺̗̻u͎̣̲͉̜̫̼͕͚̼̞̩r̭̦̜͎͈̬̳̤̼̜͎̝̩̳̫̪ ̺̪̮͙̤͎a̫̜͖͚̹̻̥̯̹̳͈̮͍̥͉̺͚̜ṣ̝͈̹̩͎͇͇̞̖̺̟̟̗ͅͅs̟̜̯̣͕̪̮̞̦͖e̯̥̬̳̞̥̱͕̦͎̼̞͈s̻̺̭̟̬̖̖͚̲̘̦̳

̱͍̙̤̙R͖̬͕̬̰͈͙͍͓͍̖i̳̯̻̩̟̦̻̻͚̝̼̳̠͔̠̬̖̤g̘͖̲̹̤͕̮͖̤͙̱̟̜̮͎̼̝̘h̺̲̱̰̟͙̟̠ṭ͕̰̰̠ͅ ̭̭͖̻̫̙̘̝̮̖͎̩̠̗̙̣̮ͅo̼̠͔͎͎u̜̦̖̭̦͈̬̜͇͖t̤̹̙̜̜̻͚̞͈̪̭s̹̲͓͙͈̤̗͎i̼̗̖̘̩̣͔͙͉̙̤d̻͍̱̞̪͈͔̰͉̯͖̦͍͙͎͖̙ͅe̯̰̟̺̘͔ ͎̭̥̯͓̱͎̦̮̳̤̼̪͚͉̼̺̺ͅu̮̝̞̭̝͓͍̼̥̣͎͙̲̗̲̹r͖̜̖̗̰̯̦̖̮͕̱̮̖̠̲̰̜ ͕̼̥̩̱͖̹̗̘͙̗̪͙̫h̞͉̤͎̝̩̲̪̺͍o̠̥͍̞̦̫̫̘̺̗̲̖ͅt̗̦̱̼͉̗̹͕͉̭̜̖̮̤e̖͖̻͙̠͈l̦̯͕̼̩̦͕̖̮̯̝͚͕̦͙̗̻̥

̳̖̣̬G̪̳̥͓͖̳͉̠̦͔̰͚̤̹̮̳̲ͅo͖͇̭o͖̻͔̹̣̙̩̳͕͍̳̤̙d̤̲̦̣ ̬̰̝͉̣̦l͓̘͖̝̻̞̻̘̞͓̻̤̘̼͈͖ͅu̬̺͎̻̦͖͕̠͉͚c̪͎̤̳͕̜͔͚̩̱ͅͅk̟͕̲̗̙͉͇̙͙̱͉̘̳̩̠̻ ̰͙̞̩l̪̲̳͖͈̮ͅo͇̠̺̱ͅs̙͚̬̭͙̙̤̻̫̲̤̥̠̙ͅe͍̥̠͓̯̤̥̺̺̬̙̖̻͓̲r̟̭̻̲̝̞͓̳͓͍͙̙̮̝̥͓̞̻̠s̜̗̦͙̹

He frowns, raising an eyebrow. What about the Hackers? Were they going to sabotage them or something? He didn't know if he should take this seriously. After all, the Agent who wrote this _did_ aggravate him for over half an hour. It's most likely a idiotic prank on their part. On the other hand, however, the Agents were unpredictable. Sometimes they were right about things like this, even if they were presented in the most irritable way possible.

He wasn't going to take any chances. Raising a white paw up to his ear, he gently taps a small black device in ear. There was the crackling of static, and then a voice comes in.

"Dominic to Wesley. What's your problem?"

The brown and white weasel hefts his gun, not taking his eyes off of the writing. "If this is a problem, Brandon, then it's an odd one."

"Oh, really? Has it got something to do with the Hunters again?"

"The good news is: no, it's not with the Hunters. The bad news: it's the Agents."

There was a long sigh on the other side of the line. "What now?"

"I don't actually know. It's kind of cryptic and I'm not sure whether to take it seriously or not. You should just come down here."

A rustling noise was heard. "Should I bring anyone along?"

Wesley thinks. "Get Penelope over here. She may be able to figure out what it says."

"Alright. I'll be there in a jiffy."

There was a beep as they disconnect. Wesley presses a paw against the smeared glass, nose twitching. He still wasn't sure about the whole sabotaging thing, but with the Agents, it never hurt to take a chance.

He hears voices coming down the sets of stairs behind him, and he looks back, paw still on the window. Two people were currently making their way towards him, talking in quiet voices.

They come up to him. The first one, a girl in a school uniform, steps forwards and begins to inspect the writing. The guy in a purple coat with matching trousers that came next to her stands side by side with Wesley, and they both acknowledge each other with curt nods. After a few moments, the girl turns to face Wesley, brushing her long black hair out of her face.

"Did you see the Agent when they wrote this, or was this completely by surprise?"

Wesley scratches his head. "They were actually here as soon as I started my shift. They kept dancing around and generally being pretty stupid until they drew that."

"And they offered no explanation?"

"I tried to let them in, but they kept running away. And before they wrote the message, they actually wanted to come in. I guess they were sorry for playing around earlier, but I was done with them. They could stay out in the rain for as long as they wanted. And then that happened," the weasel waves a paw at the writing, which had started to run some more and was now barely legible.

The guy next to Wesley adjusts the black fedora sitting on his head. "I think they aren't joking."

Wesley turns to him, clearly shocked. "But they were acting like idiots, Brandon! And remember the last time something like this happened?"

Brandon sighs. "Yes, I remember the thing with the showers. It apparently also happened to the Agents themselves, so it sort of backfired on them, I guess? But the thing is," he gestures towards the faded writing. "This seems serious."

Wesley looks at Penelope, waiting for her to say something that would bring Brandon back to his senses. The girl continues to study the writing in silence. She then waves her hand, and what was left of the blurry messages fades away.

"I'm going to have to go with Brandon on this one," she mutters. Wesley lets out a quiet protest and begins to slowly shuffle back to the desk. Penelope holds up a hand, and the weasel stops, an exasperated look on his face.

"But if I'm wrong, then I'll give you that upgrade you've always wanted on your gun."

The weasel immediately perks up. His eyes brighten and he wraps Penelope in a hug, something he usually didn't do. "Thanks a bunch, Fitzgerald!"

Brandon winks, flashing a grin at Wesley. "I guess you'll finally have a _shot_ at your dream weapon."

Wesley groans amiably, letting go of weasel and Brandon then start to make some small talk. As they discussed various things, Penelope quietly began to make her way towards an opening located a bit to the left of the reception desk. Sliding her hand on the smooth, gold and cream wall, she turns and enters a wide-open dining room.

She wasn't alone. There were various people milling about the expensive-looking dining area. Some were seated at the tables, talking, and other were eating. The clinking of silverware and the aroma of food filled the air. The two chandeliers hanging from the ceiling glinted in the light, reflecting off the large windows. It was still raining.

Penelope walks over to a large counter at one side of the dining area. Sliding up a stool, she sits down and begins to tap her fingers on the dark wood of the counter, humming. While this used to be a sort of bar, most of the liquor had been salvaged away when the Justifiers had decided to claim this as their base. The rest of the alcohol had been stashed somewhere, and the empty shelves filled with empty glasses and a few decorative flowers. The entire hotel then had been cleaned in a matter of weeks. Now, it looked good as new, possibly even better.

Even if the world had gone to hell, the Justifiers were nothing but classy.

A shape in front of Penelope's vision makes her look up, and she smiles slightly. "Hey, Dargo," she says, addressing her guardian. The tall, golden dragon turns around. He was holding a cloth and cleaning a glass. He sets both items down on the counter.

"Hey, Penelope. Why'd Brandon take you with him?"

The girl traces swirls in the water left from the cleaning rag and the glass. She sighs. "About that," She locks eyes with the dragon and lowers her voice to a whisper. "We've received a sort of...message from our dear Agent friends."

Dargo blinks once and scratches a golden horn. Pulling over a stool from his side of the bar, he crosses his arms on top of the counter. "What kind?"

Penelope proceeds to tell him about the message and the conversations she had with Brandon and Wesley. When she had finished, Dargo was frowning. He picked up the glass and rag again and started to clean it once more, pacing the length of the bar.

"You sure you made the right decision?" he asks. "Not that I'm doubting you."

Penelope sighs again. "That's what I'm worried about. That I'm wrong and I made everyone go on high alert just because of a prank message."

The dragon finishes cleaning the glass and rests a clawed hand on Penelope's own. "I've got faith in you, Penelope. You've never been wrong about things like this, and I'm sure that's not going to start now."

Someone suddenly slides in next to Penelope, and both her and Dargo turn their attention to the new person. A man wearing a dark urban camo shirt and pants had sat down next to Penelope. The gas mask he was wearing slightly muffled his words, but they both could understand him clearly.

"As Dargo said, you've never been wrong when stuff like this happens. And when the Hackers attack, we'll all be ready to take them out," an Australian accent traced his words, and the man puts his hands down on the counter with a light thump. "We'll be ready because of you, kid."

Penelope grins, her spirits lifted. "Thank you, Grim," she says, addressing the man on her right. She turns back to Dargo and squeezes his hand. "Thanks to both of you."

Grim removes his hands from the counter and places them behind his head. He leans back slightly and nods. "No problem, kid."

Dargo's golden eyes sparkle. "Did you really promise Wesley that gun upgrade?"

"It was only fair," Penelope replied, straightening up. "He's been wanting that for ages, and has to wait because Golden is too busy with other weapons."

The three of them then descend into conversation. Well, mostly Penelope and Dargo. Grim listened on and nodded, but he wasn't much of a talker.

The rainy afternoon went on, turning slowly into sunset. The rain still hadn't left, although it had been reduced to a light drizzle. The light of the dying sun cast rays into the dining room, which had been emptied after everyone had finished eating.

The three people were still seated at the bar, continuing their conversation. Dargo had moved onto the topics of the four other organizations.

"I have to agree with the Hunters on this one," the dragon adds, picking at his claws. "The Hackers are the most annoying."

Penelope shakes her head. "It's obviously the Agents. While the Hackers have had their fair share of troubles, they're don't cause as much disaster as the Agents. I swear, those people always seem to find trouble."

"Or maybe trouble finds them," Grim added. This was one of the few times he had inputted something into the conversation.

"Speaking of the Hackers," Penelope looks outside of the windows, seeing nothing but the empty city. "I wonder when they'll launch their 'attack'."

Dargo bares his teeth in a smile. "They'll be a bit surprised when they find out it's not a surprise like they wanted it to be. At least they'll lose that advantage."

"This is the first time I've been grateful to the Agents about something. And while I hope it's the last time, they really are helping by sending these messages to us," the girl thinks. "Where do they get this information?"

Grim speaks up again. "They've got bugs and stuff in every single organization. By methods I have no clue of, the Agents have managed to wriggle their little selves into everyone's private business," his voice takes on an amiable tone. "I won't be surprised if they're listening to this conversation right now. I've got to hand it to them, they sure know how to make a man feel paranoid."

The three of them fall into silence, each of them lost in their own thoughts. This could have almost been a perfect day.

Penelope closes her eyes. _A perfect day in a world where there was no fighting, no crime, where everything was peaceful. That's what the Justifiers were about, and they had to convince the other to stop their violence to restore the world as it was before._

Her thought were interrupted by a thundering screeching, followed by a terrible crash. Penelope's eyes snap open, and she jumps up, senses on high alert.

Dargo and Grim had the same reaction. The dragon had moved faster than she could follow and was already on the other side of the counter. A large, dangerous-looking scythe had appeared out of nowhere and was resting in Grim's hands. Without needing to make eye contact, the three of them charged out of the dining area into the lobby.

Many of the Justifiers were already there, and they were met with a cloud of smoke and metallic debris. Something large and heavy had crashed into the side of the hotel, and by the looks of it, had caused a significant amount of damage to the building.

Brandon runs up to Penelope, his signature black katana already drawn. He stands next to her and looks at the damage, eyes narrowed.

"Looks like we were right," he mutters. He never took his eyes off of the Hacker's dramatic entrance.

Penelope shoots a glance at him. "And what about Wesley?'

"He's fine. He saw them from a mile away and managed to get everyone away from the wall before it collapsed."

Penelope squeezes the handle of her knife, scanning the wreckage. "What was the point of this? I don't see them anywh-"

She was cut off by a wailing siren. Everyone looks sharply up, and saw that the contraption was flashing a red and blue.

Pieces of the rubble move, and a figure emerges from the dust and ruin. The rain had kicked up again, and the wind whips their fur around. Two more people clamber up next to it. They stand at its side, ready for the fight that was about to take place.

The first person on top of the crashed vehicle grins, teeth flashing. Their eye glows, and they raise a hand up to flip the eyepatch on their other eye.

"Are you ready to get you asses whooped, mateys? Because I know I am."

The grin suddenly turns into a snarl, and the person points at the Justifiers with a hooked hand. The two people beside them tense, and the whole place seemed to be holding its breath.

Penelope raised her knife while Dargo let out a puff of smoke. Grim began to slowly swing his scythe around, gradually picking up speed, and Brandon tightened his grip on his katana, sliding into a fighting stance.

"Show no mercy!"

* * *

 **Starring:**

 **Wesley, by: wes27**

 **Brandon Dominic, by: AlliesWritingFanfiction**

 **Penelope Fitzgerald and Dargo, by: GrezzWizard**

 **Grim, by: Ando machine**

 **o0o**

 ***rises from the grave* I LIVE!**

 **Alright, I think I owe you guys an explanation.**

 **You see, lots of things happened in the time it took me to write this and post it. Studying for exams, the exams themselves, and then writers block hit again. Plus the holidays and spending time with family and stuff like that. And even though this chapter is a bit shorter than usual, I can promise that the next one will be more...thought-provoking.**

 **Anyways, I'm back, and I hope to stay that way!**

 **Happy (if a little bit late) Holidays,**

 **PlatinumFire~**


	4. Chapter 4

The first thing he was exposed to were sounds. Before he could see, before he could speak, there were the sounds. They never left him, and he had always found a sort of comfort in them.

At first, they were muffled. Pulses and beats, but he never truly knew what they were. Floating in the darkness, they were the only things he knew.

And he wanted more.

Slowly but surely, they became clearer. The beats became more pronounced. They were still muffled, but in a way they had more feeling. More meaning. And they were all around him.

Eventually he noticed that there was a similar beat coming from him as well. Before, he thought that the sounds came only from out of the darkness. Now, he realized he was making a beat of his own.

He had no idea what to call this sound. But it was a wonderful noise, and it came from him and those around him, and he cherished it.

Then, the thoughts came. And with those thoughts, knowledge. That brought on the light. The darkness began to fade, shapes started to emerge from the dimness in which he lived in.

That's when he heard a new sound. An odd sound. A sound which he could not describe, but it invoked a sort of feeling in him, a feeling of purposefulness. The knowledge he was granted with coiled around in his mind, feeding his intellect with an oddly beautiful vibration.

And then he knew what the unusual sounds were.

 _Voices._

It only went up from there. At last, the dark was completely dispelled, and the shapes became figures. The figures were blurry and submerged in shadow for a while, until his senses sharpened. The blurry blobs became people. He could see.

The knowledge coursed through his being. He loved the rush of it, the zing of it in his mind. And the words. How he adored words! But he would always admire the sounds the most.

He began to decipher the voices around him. He began to learn them. And he wanted to make a voice of his own. But he couldn't.

He became quite forlorn at this. And to cure this, he continued to listen to the voices around him. They spoke of things such as 'tests' and 'progress'. One time, one of the voices was suddenly infused with an emotion. The knowledge informed him that it was called 'excitement'. It was around the time when he found out he could stop looking at the figures above, which he called "people".

His vision shifted, and he was looking behind the people. There was also a light there, but it was so blinding that he could not gaze at it for more than a few seconds. The light also brought out a new feeling in him. A negative one.

If he looked behind the people for too long, his eyes would begin to sting. He recoiled from it, shutting out the painful brightness with a simple movement of his face.

 _Pain,_ his thoughts informed him. _You are feeling pain._

He did not like this pain. He vowed to never feel it again.

So he turned away from the light.

Time passed. He could feel himself growing stronger, growing more knowledgeable about the world beyond the odd jelly-like liquid he was currently submerged in. But he wanted more. He's always wanted more, wanted to fully understand everything that was going on around him. But something told him that he would never know. So he decided that he was going to learn as much as possible.

He began to gain control of the limbs attached to him. There were small, barely noticeable twitches at first, but he learned fast. Along with wanting to be the most knowledgeable, he was a fast learner, catching up to things the people outside had not yet told him about.

Soon, he discovered that it was going too slow. The process. He had countless information stored in his thoughts, countless ideas that could not be put to use because the people outside had to "take their time". That bothered him. Why should he wait for the instructions of beings who already have all of their knowledge? Shouldn't they know what he was going through, because they've already experienced it themselves? Couldn't they have some compassion for someone who was clearly developing faster than they thought he would?

That's where he was wrong. Horribly wrong.

Instead of speeding up the process, they slowed it down even further. He became infuriated at this. They had the nerve to restrain him like this, and it felt awful. He could feel it growing, the knowledge, but there was nowhere for it to go. It was all bottled up.

But he than began to think. They were monitoring his growth. Surely they were doing what they thought was best, right?

He relaxed at this revelation. The people outside were doing it for his own good. So he could mature, at when he was finally released, show all of them how much he'd grown.

This kept him at bay for a while, but not for long. But instead of feeling anger at this, he felt something else. It had been a long time since another emotion had shown up, so he was also slightly curious at what this might be.

It was a feeling that began in the very pit of his stomach. It snaked upwards, beginning to smother the knowledge with its own poisonous tendrils. Eventually, it filled his entire body, his entire _soul_ , and somehow it was far worse than the pain he had experienced when looking into the light.

This terrible new emotion was called fear.

It took over his mind. It began to control his thoughts. He started to think of the worst. What if the people outside had realized that he wasn't worth it anymore? That they would just abandon him and move onto their next "experiment"?

No. He couldn't let that happen. He had to prove to them that he could be the strongest one. The one that won't let them down. The one with the most knowledge.

So he started to gather all of his intellect, all of the things he knew as of now. He knew this would take time, for he had many things going on in his mind. During this time, he became aware of another presence next to him. Growing unhurriedly, but with all the same power he was collecting. He decided on something. When he finally finished growing and came out into the world, he would take the presence next to him, and teach them the vast knowledge that he had of the world.

Slowly but surely, they both developed. He wanted for it to go faster, but he held back. He had to be patient, and this was something that could not be rushed.

Just like before, time passed. The same old song and dance routine, waiting for the people outside to notice his true intellect, having them speed the process up a bit more, and then waiting some more.

He'd never one with much patience. Now, as he thinks back on it, maybe being so impatient was what finally unlocked that part nestled deep within his brain. That part that didn't want to do anymore waiting.

That some things just had to be rushed in order to achieve their full potential.

He may have been one with a low tolerance for waiting, but he could certainly plan. He wasn't stupid. He continued to act just as he did before, going through the whole monotonous routine again and again to lure the people outside into thinking that everything was fine, that everything was going alright.

It was the complete opposite of that. He gathered all of the knowledge, all of the intellect into one single, pure ball of energy. He was surprised they didn't notice this was happening. He marveled at their denseness, and was slowly beginning to lose all respect for them that he once had.

It took a while. Everything seemed to take too much time at this stage. He was almost tempted to release the energy right then and there, but he stopped himself. If there wasn't enough for the first time, they would begin to suspect, and he would have to start all the way from square one.

And he waited and waited for the right time. He didn't fully comprehend how he knew when the time was right, but he suspected it was something set there by coincidence. Or was it fate?

By now, he didn't really care. All he wanted was out, and that's what he was going to do.

And so, without checking to see if anyone was around him, knowing fully that he could die because of this, he does it.

After that, he couldn't bring up the whole of the event, no matter how hard he tried. This had been the most defining moment, the moment when his life truly began, and he remembered almost nothing. Sometimes he hated himself for it. Sometimes he thought it was for the best.

But what he did recall would forever be burned into his mind. The sudden coldness, the freezing artificial air burning into his skin. The lights, now infinitely brighter than they were before, stung his sensitive eyes. The equally cold floor beneath him. He remembers taking a shaky step backwards and feeling an acute pain run up his leg. With a sharp intake of breath, he stumbled forwards and turns around to see what had hurt him. A trail of crimson ran from the bottom of his foot, a shard of glass lying on the ground a few steps away from him.

And that's when the sounds began. A fusillade of blaring assaulted his ears, accompanied with the panicked yells of the scientists around him.

The scientists…

He remembers his head snapping towards a movement he detected near his left. A man lay cowering in a corner, the entire front of his chest soaked with blood. He later learned that his escape caused the container he was being held in to explode, impaling many of the people around him with glass.

He walked up to the man, quickly gaining control of his limbs. He towered over the scientist, and he seemed to shrink back even more.

"Please," the man on the ground rasped. He suddenly dissolves into a barrage of coughs, more of the thick, dark red liquid spilling out onto his chest. "Don't do it."

He tilted his head to the side curiously. Don't do what? He deserved everything he was getting. He looks at the blood, which was pooling out onto the floor. It wasn't as if the scientist was going to live any longer.

He suddenly stooped down, his hands wrapping around the other man's neck. The scientist's eyes go wide, and a horrible gagging noise comes from his throat. Blood trickled onto his hands, and he was slightly shocked by its warmth.

A burst of adrenaline suddenly overtakes him, and his breathing sped up as rage clouded his vision. What was he doing here, wasting his time with someone who was about to die? There were many more people that needed to face the consequences of their actions.

He lifted the man up effortlessly, still grabbing him by his neck. Ignoring the fresh wave of blood and the scientist's weak kicks, one of his hands absent-mindedly moves onto the man's head, the other one tightly gripping the chin. With a strength he didn't know he possessed, he forcibly twisted the man's head to the right.

An audible snap echoed through the lab, somehow sounding even louder than the wailing of the alarms. The man's body goes limp, and he dropped the corpse on the floor in a mix of fascination and disgust. He looked at his hands with a sort of wonder, watching the blood drip off of them slowly.

Speaking of blood, he looked down at his chest. He had just noticed he was wearing a nightgown of some sort, and it was soaked with the red liquid. But there were more pressing matters at hand. How did he know how to kill a person like that?

He supposed that his creators put that in his mind at one point. So they had wanted him to kill.

He turned his attention back on the dead man. After a few moments of thinking, he grabbed the body and pulled the lab coat off. After all, he needed something to wear before the nightgown fell apart.

As he was putting the article of clothing on, he noticed a tag on the left side of the coat. He pinched it between his fingers, narrowing his eyes as he read the words.

A name. Did he have a name? No one had ever told him. He had to pick one. And what name would be more fitting than the one of his first kill?

Mouthing the newfound words, he looked up as he heard footsteps thunder down a hallway. A grin began to form on his face as a horde of people entered the room, many armed with weapons.

It was good judgement that they came in as soon as he was experiencing the world for the first time.

It almost made the fight fair.

* * *

That had been around 20 years ago. Now he mused over those memories like someone would muse over a scrapbook. A trip down memory lane, if you would call it that.

Funny, he never knew what had happened to the other experiment next to him. He didn't have time to check when he first ventured out of the room, and when he came back, it was gone. Probably destroyed in the initial impact of his container exploding.

He could see the fight from here. The lights of the grand hotel burned brightly in the pouring rain, enhanced by the fact that there was a large hole in its side. Smoke billowed up from the machine that had crashed into it, and he wondered if it would catch on fire. It would add to the excitement.

The corner of his mouth twitched as he noticed a few figures that had made it outside of the building. They fought near the edge of the machine, taking no mind of the streak of lightning that suddenly sliced across the sky.

What were their names again? Ah, yes. The Hackers and the Justifiers. A soft laugh emerged from him as he shook his head. It was so entertaining to watch them quarrel over trivial things, only to have them fighting once more in the next week. It seemed to never end.

One part of him wanted it to not finish. He wanted to see how they would end up after, oh, let's say, a decade? He wanted to know if they would still be going after their little troubles, to see if they would ever learn. But the more rational part of him knew that it would be too long. He had to get rid of them as soon as possible if he wanted to do what he had to do. Although, they were doing a pretty good job themselves. If there were any casualties after this particular spat, that would make his job a lot easier.

He continued to spectate over the fight, eyes dancing over the battle. They never failed to amaze him.

His thoughts were interrupted by the creaking of his office door. Not turning around, he spoke.

"Yes?"

There was the shuffling of papers. "Sir, we've seemed to have another one of our subjects reach Phase Two."

He turns his head slightly, interest piqued. "Are they in stable condition?"

The woman straightens her glasses, shuffling the papers once more. "Yes."

Taking his gaze off of the feud, he looks at the woman straight in the eye. He sees her pale, but pays no attention. "And the doctor?"

"He says he's ready to perform another operation, but he needs another patient."

He strides towards her and she moves out of the way, holding her papers to her chest. As he walks down the pristine hallway, she catches up next to him.

"Ask for a volunteer. If there aren't any, inform me."

She nods rapidly, muttering an affirmation. She takes off, almost running. He watches her go down the rest of the hallway.

"Oh, and one more thing."

The woman spins around, breathing heavily. "Yes, Mr. Shrike?"

He offers her an easygoing smile, raising an eyebrow. "Call me Paul."

Her face returns to its normal color. She coughs and brushes a stray hair away from her face. "Yes, sir." With a final look at him, she continues to walk, this time more relaxed.

He turns back around, heading towards his office. As he steps into it once more, he thinks.

 _With some luck, the patient will make it past Phase Two and survive. And the doctor will perform another operation. It will take some convincing if he doesn't want to, but in the end, he has no choice._

He returns to his place beside the window. It looked like most of the fight had moved outside. The rain had also lifted slightly, and the sun had gone down some more, darkening the city expect for the area near the hotel.

The hole in the building caught his attention. The machine blocking it was now gone, and the hole had gotten significantly larger. He could see a few people lying on the ground around it, not moving.

He had missed the explosion.

Pity.

* * *

 **OCs Used:**

 **You all know who.**

 **o0o**

 **A/N:**

 **Wow, look. I actually got another chapter done in a decent amount of time. And I'm pretty okay with how it turned out :)  
**

 **Now, it's time to continue Chapter 5. Which will take 3 years.**

 **jkjk**

 **Have a great day/night,**

 **PlatinumFire~**


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